NewStats: 3,261,660 , 8,174,671 topics. Date: Friday, 30 May 2025 at 12:34 AM 1647k

By Andrew Haruna | Lokoja, Kogi State

A night of spiritual devotion turned into sheer horror on Friday when unknown gunmen launched a coordinated attack on a mountain-top vigil in the Egbola area along Agbaja Road, within Lokoja Local Government Area of Kogi State. The assailants abducted several worshippers in the dead of night, marking yet another grim chapter in the rising wave of insecurity plaguing Nigeria’s North Central region.

According to eyewitness reports, the heavily armed attackers stormed the remote prayer location under the cover of darkness, indiscriminately opening fire to instill fear and disarray among worshippers gathered for the night vigil. Amid the chaos, multiple worshippers were forcibly taken into the surrounding forest.

One of the abducted victims, identified as Mary Adams Gure, was rescued during a daring counteroffensive mounted by local vigilantes who responded rapidly to distress alerts from community .

“They came shooting to scare everyone. People were running in different directions. Some were captured and taken away into the forest,” a local resident said, speaking under anonymity.

The successful rescue of Gure reportedly followed a fierce gun duel between the vigilante group and the kidnappers. According to sources within the security outfit, Gure managed to escape during the commotion and was later found by the search party.

“The vigilantes were mobilised quickly and engaged the gunmen in a gunfight. In the process, Mary Gure was rescued. A search-and-rescue operation is ongoing to find the remaining victims,” a member of the vigilante team confirmed.

As of press time, the exact number of abducted worshippers remains unknown. Efforts to get an official response from the Kogi State Police Command proved unsuccessful, as calls and messages sent to Police Public Relations Officer, ASP William Aya, went unanswered.

Growing Threat to Religious Freedom and Public Safety

This incident adds to a disturbing trend of targeted attacks on religious gatherings, places of worship, and other perceived soft targets across Kogi State and other North Central states. Security analysts have repeatedly warned of the porous nature of rural and semi-urban areas, which are increasingly becoming hotspots for kidnappings-for-ransom, banditry, and armed insurgencies.

Community leaders and civil society organizations have called on the federal and state governments to urgently strengthen rural security architecture, deploy surveillance technology, and empower local security networks to repel further attacks.

As security operatives intensify their search for the remaining abductees, residents of Egbola and surrounding communities continue to live in fear, hoping for swift justice and the safe return of all captives.

Source: The Bureau Newspaper

K

Season of gunmen...

Nigeria is under seige

Everywhere you turn, one crisis or the other.

Everyday since this week is one attack or the other but Tinubu is interested in deploying attack dogs and propaganda while he goes on a jamboree in Paris

Na wa o! And Tinubu is in doing what?

Yet Emilokan is keeping an able bodied iral in Government house Rivers.

A peace keeping and security guru is wasting in Government house Port Harcourt.

Deploy that 70 year old Ibas to Kogi or Plateau now!

Yet Ronu miscreants wouldn't hesitate to mention Peter Obi. Those people are beyond redemption.

They have been over stepping since but nothing is been done

Arume:
Honestly these bandits are over stepping their Boarders

Arume:
Honestly these bandits are over stepping their Boarders

And they will be lynched..... Let's see the bstd that will call them hunters

Bandits in the north, hunters down south.
Death penalty won't be too stringent as compensation for their crimes when nabbed.

Tinubu is incompetent. He should RESIGN.

Community armament, under a controlled condition is the way to go.

Tinubu Olule pi

Naija... Every state dey collect!

"Mary was rescued" OR "Mary escaped"
Which one should we take? 🤕

Anyways, Hell-Rufai boys doing their master's bidding. We have seen this movie before in Southern Kaduna.

State of Emergency loading

They voted APC, make una enjoy una vote

First arrest the pastor

Kudos to the Vigilantes. Everyone should secure their area, Nigerian security system is too poor.

To your tent o Israel ...

Make every man arm himself and him community...

They are using money from the ransom to get more arms and more recruits. Time will come when in broad day light, they will attack cities like the state capital because they know that with thier sheer number and weapons, the security can't do jack.

JAWBONE:
Everywhere you turn, one crisis or the other.

Everyday since this week is one attack or the other but Tinubu is interested in deploying attack dogs and propaganda while he goes on a jamboree in Paris

His useless and cloned ers will not say anything here, except they hear obi name

D

I will keep saying it

And let anyone quote me anywhere

Every er of Tinubu is a blood sucker, they drink and feast on human blood

At this rate... Nigerian population will be less than 100m in 2027
This is the prayer of Tinubu ers papiwyte

Our heroes past will be turning in their graves💔

Hamas people. They hate the truth

Arume:
Honestly these bandits are over stepping their Boarders

Just imagine your mentality. They're "overstepping borders" after they've killed thousands of Nigerians. Maybe because they've not slaughtered your loved one, abi?

Omoh eh, I no just understand the kain people wey I dey share this country with.
God forbid

Election momentum is heating up, they've released them again just as it happened in 2015.
If you kno you know

BadEnglish:
Election momentum is heating up, they've released them again just as it happened in 2015.
If you kno you know

Who released them in 2015?

Same thing they did to Jonathan